zircon

The soundchip isn't particularly impressive... chiptunes are cool only when they are using a unique soundchip, like the one for the NES, Genesis, or C64. This just sounds like any old generic digital synth. No character.

Also nearly five years old, so it's not necessarily a good comparison to what's getting submitted today. Being completely arbitrary with regards to source usage is a crappy way to do things when it comes time to explain to a mixer why we rejected their liberal mix but accepted another one that was even more liberal. http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10641 Take this for example. You NOed it because you thought the source was not incorporated meaningfully. However, the intro and outtro there used a single chord from the original, JUST like this mix does. In that case, it's not enough, and here, it is. You say there that the source melody just seems pasted on what could otherwise be a generic trance arrangement - but that case is really no different, in that the chord progression from the source WAS explicitly used underneath the main melody. And then the rest was really just original material using one chord from the source. Sound familiar?

Happy birthday, DrumUltiDoug!! Next time I see you I'll buy you a cheesesteak >:3

Highly competitive is the understatement of the year. Their acceptance rate is something like 7%, compared to about 18% for the University of Pennsylvania for example. Curtis regularly takes undergrads even into their 30s - they REALLY care about ability above everything else.

Theory time The source tune is basically in the C dorian mode. The first 27 seconds consist of one chord, Cm7 maybe with an 11th in there. Anyway, it doesn't move. The 0:27 progression consists of a lot of sus2 chords over a pedal note (still C). Eb sus2, D sus2, Bb sus2, D sus2, ending on C sus2. At 0:33 there's another similar progression. Eb sus2, D sus2, F sus2, Dsus2, Csus2. 0:40 picks up into a full progression. Ab major -> Eb major (x3), Ab major -> B major, E major, Bb major. That's it. We'll call this the B-section. NOW FOR THE MIX! The opening chords (0:00-0:13) can be described as Cm7 to Cm6. Now the Cm6 chord isn't in the source, it simply falls in the same mode as the source. The Cm7 IS used directly in the source. The root here is all C, which makes sense. At 0:13, the root note moves down to a Bb, and the chords could be described as essentially moving to Bb maj7. This chord isn't really anywhere in the source. 0:16 is Ab major, which is used in the B-section of the source. However, this is not preceded or followed by any chords in the same manner as the source. At :36 to :39, the chords go Eb major to G major. We'll hear this later on a bunch of times. I'll call this the "intro progression". Most of it is based on the ONE chord present for the entire part of Cyan, which is a Cm7. But it's just one chord. The addition of the Bb stuff is new, as is the sixth chord. Definitely some variation here, and again, only on a single chord present in most of the source. The little 'turn' at :36-:39 is similar to the B-section of Cyan in that it is often preceded by Ab major, but the only connection is Ab->Eb major. The G major after that is not used in Cyan. I'll go into this more later... :39 to 1:07 is playing the main Cyan melody, clearly. 1:07 to 1:11 is just some filler stuff, a little jazzy transition. 1:11 is another melody from Cyan interspersed with original writing. Then we get the B section melody following at 1:19. This ends at 1:45. At 1:45, it's back to the intro progression, this time with a solo on top. This lasts until 2:09. At 2:09, the chord progression is the same as the Cyan B-section chords. Follows the movement of those chords precisely. The rhodes solo ends at 2:34. 2:35 marks the start of a guitar solo. The underlying chords are now the intro progression again. This goes until 3:02, which mirrors the transition at 1:07. 3:05 to 3:14 is Cyan, pretty clearly. 3:15-3:38 uses the B-section chords with a bass soloing on top. 3:39-4:03 is a heavy variation on the Cyan melody using guitar, also varying some of underlying of the B-section (eg. it's Ab major to C minor, instead of Ab major to Eb major.) I'd still say the chords are essentially the B-section. Most of the melodic work here is definitely original though. 4:03-4:23 is more shreddage. This time, the underlying chord is basically just C minor straight up, even simplified from the intro progression, though at 4:15 it's back to "normal". 4:24-4:47 is Cyan on guitar, with some variations, again, pretty clear. 4:48 to 5:06 is an original ending. --- The mix is 306 seconds long. Here's how the Cyan melodic usage plays out. :39 to 1:45 = 66 seconds (I am being generous and including the little jazzy filler, we don't need to get TOO picky here) 3:05 to 3:14 = 9 seconds 3:39 to 4:03 = 24 seconds. Now, while you can definitely hear a bit of the source here, it's primarily original solo material. However, if you want to include it, 24 seconds is the figure. 4:24 to 4:47 = 23 seconds. Basically indisputable source usage totals to 98 seconds, or 32% of the total mix. If we include the guitar solo at 3:39 to 4:03, that's 121 seconds, or 39.5%. If we're solely looking at these overt uses of the Cyan theme then clearly this mix is NOT a pass. So, the question is, what about the chord progression and all of the soloing? 2:09 to 2:34 as well as 3:15 to 3:38 both clearly use the Cyan B-section chords. The B-section chords are very recognizable as Cyan, and I would argue that this usage constitutes valid interpretation going towards the total source usage. Another 48 seconds, bringing the total to 169 seconds. Total source usage is now 55%. This assumes that you also counted all of the 3:39-4:03 soloing as source usage; if you didn't, then we're at 47% or so. The intro progression in relation to the source tune is murkier as the entire first part of the source is a SINGLE chord, so one could say either that there are a whole lot of ways you could play and vary it while still remaining connected, or that there are very few ways of doing so. I would say that the riffing from Cm7 to Cm6 is a valid connection to the Cm7 chord present in the source. So, at the very least, about half of the intro progression, every time it is used, is acceptable as being connected to the source progression. Having said that, I don't think we should consider the intro progression as counting towards overall interpretation, even though at least half of it is connected to the source. Why? Because we have repeatedly made negative judgments on trance mixes with long intros and outtros consisting of a single chord. Siamey's mixes come to mind. It would be holding a double standard to say that when trance artists do it, it's not arrangement, but when rock mixers do, it is. Yes, technically speaking, using Cm7 alone in the remix IS using the chord also present at the beginning of the source. But are we really saying that doing nothing more than playing one chord is interpretation? I think we shouldn't, even if there are solos on top. Thus, what this REALLY boils down to is the following: 1. Is the 3:39 to 4:03 soloing overt enough source usage? 2. Is 2:09 to 2:34 and 3:15 to 3:38, both of which clearly use chords from the B-section of Cyan verbatim, valid interpretation of the source, considering that these chords are distinctive (unlike a single Cm7)? You MUST agree with 1 and 2 if you are to pass this mix. If you do not agree with either of these points, then you should not pass it. Simply saying "it feels like enough" should not be a valid vote. The overt source usage, even being generous, is slightly under 40%, and frankly we have rejected mixes less liberal than that. You definitely need to consider exactly what you are voting and what the implications are for future mixes, particularly those in electronic genres.

1450; I took it the year before they changed the format. Very glad I studied for it because the cutoff for the scholarship I now have was 1450.

Bump.. been studying for this for a week or two now. I'm really not doing well on the math stuff, but everything else is a breeze (in relativity.) Surely there must be someone who is in business school here!

I like the sound of Noisia but I have absolutely no idea what kind of gear those guys use. Apparently, DNB synths and sampling is a whole field unto itself, and one I am quite new to... the second track and fourth tracks in the medley are pretty dark, but I don't really know how to get the Noisia sound for example.

I'd imagine you'd need to sequence MIDI notes.

Sure, that's a good reason not to use something. Actually, in the U.S., no one under 18 can enter into any kind of contract. Technically speaking that means a 15 year old clicking "I accept" on a EULA means nothing, legally.

Huh? I posted here and my post disappeared. Whoops. Anyway, just wanted to say congrats on the release.. demos sound great! Love the non-traditional take on Terra.

Control and mousewheel. So useful.

Absolutely great. Only two complaints so far: 1. It crashed (just completely closed) when I had like 10-15 tabs open and a bunch of downloads. I was downloading all the latest OCReMixes. 2. Text zoom is nice, but FF3's PAGE zoom is absolutely amazing. My eyes hurt looking at many sites and being able to zoom the whole page is very useful. Technically speaking, when you hit 3 or 4gb on a 32-bit OS.

That's why you have to look for unconventional places to put sentries! You're good at that, Chad.

Looks amazing... I love the comic.

First compo was a success - check out the entries here: http://www.soundtempest.net/mm1/ The theme was... "The newest casual puzzle game hit which is sweeping the nation, where the goal is to line up various fruits on an incredibly complex grid - requires intense concentration and years of practice to know what the hell you're doing" Next compo is NEXT Monday (Sept 8th) at 9PM EST, again. However if you hang out in #soundtempest on irc.esper.net, and there is enough interest on any given night, we can do another one spontaneously.

Happy birthday guys!! And enjoy the cookies, Audix

Most of you probably don't remember that SoundTempest, now a music industry news & help blog maintained by me, used to be a site connecting amateur musicians to amateur game developers. One of the most popular things we did were weekly (sometimes daily) one hour competitions called CompoSTs, involving ReMixers like OverCoat, Rellik, Tyler Heath, analoq, bustatunez, and many others. Video game composer Jeroen Tel has even compoed with us before! Anyway, I want to bring these back in the form of General MIDI only competitions held weekly (or perhaps more frequently.) You can join us starting tomorrow night at 9PM EST on #soundtempest, irc.esper.net. The rules are simple, basically taken from existing, successful competitions like kwakfest: * You can use any sequencer you want. * You have one hour. * Your entry must be written from scratch when the compo begins, with no pre-recorded parts. * Entries must be in General MIDI format (.mid) Once the hour is up, all the participants will download the entries, we'll listen to them as a group and then maybe do some kind of voting.. for example, asking everyone to pick their top 3 tracks. Each compo will have some kind of theme. Because this is SoundTempest, the themes will probably involve game music in some way. However, you do not have to stick to the theme strictly... it's better to write something fun if you have no ideas, rather than write nothing. These kind of compos are great ways of practicing your compositional and sequencing skills especially since you are limited to MIDI. We may expand CompoSTs back into the realm of audio but for now, I think MIDI-only will be fun. See you tomorrow! --- QUICK MIDI REFERENCE Don't have a sequencer? Pick up FL Studio for free by clicking right here. The demo version will not let you save, but it is just fine for a one hour competition, and will allow you to export whatever you make. Once you have FL installed and opened, go to File -> New From Template -> Utility -> General MIDI. This premade template opens up 16 MIDI channels armed and ready for recording or sequencing. Regardless of the sequencer you use, you can get a lot more mileage out of general MIDI by using CCs (continuous controllers.) These are basically controls present in every channel of a MIDI file, accessible in any respectable DAW. There are 127 CCs, most of which are not relevant here, but there are a couple ones you should know - CC 1 = Modulation. Most keyboards automatically assign the modwheel to this controller. It allows you to add vibrato (pitch modulation) to your sound. CC 7 = Volume. Pretty self-explanatory. If you want to make string swells, for example, automating CC7 is the way to go. CC 10 = Panning. Allows you to control the Left/Right balance of the channel. CC 64 = Sustain. If you have a MIDI foot pedal, it will likely control this. When CC 64 is "on" (turned up) then anytime you hit a note, it will sustain for awhile.

Contest ends tomorrow at noon, so y'all have a little under 24 hours. I heard some great WIPs that haven't been subbed yet. Don't give up now

I pretty much exclusively play on the OCR server.

That doesn't play in my Winamp, for some reason. Doesn't even have a file length. Can you post an MP3 link or something? Chances are, a "hard attack" just means that the key is being struck hard and the sample(s) have been edited to actually chop off a few MS of the waveform.

There is no such thing as an ultimate drum library, sadly. I think the best drums for dnb and big beat are basically acoustic recordings that were specially recorded and processed. It's nearly impossible to simply take existing 'normal' samples and turn them into Pendulum-sounding ones... I've tried! Samples cut from vinyl work best, such as Goldbaby MPC Vol 2, at least for a starting 'phatness'. Clean, low-tuned snares and super-tight & heavy kicks recorded from real kits will help as well. Believe me, I'm on a constant quest for that sound.

I use T-Racks and, more recently, the "TLs" free series of plugins for mastering. TLs Pocket Limiter and Maximizer are amazing. George Yohng's W1 Limiter, another freebie, is great too. I use dblue glitch and PSP Nitro for various "FSU" effects (f!@# sound up) and FL Reverb/Glace Verb for most reverb purposes. Sometimes, I use Kjaerhus stuff, like their Classic Phaser and Reverb, both of which are free. My favorite reverb generally speaking is ArtsAcoustic, which is about $180 and absolutely fantastic. I don't really care about EQs much... I use FL's EQ2 for basically everything. I never saw the big deal. The "Density" compressor as well as MDSP Compressor are both solid freebies when I need to comp a channel.

Just look at any ReMix posted in the last three years or so. That's absolutely the best way to figure out what an acceptable level of arrangement is. Arrangements older than three years or so were passed or posted with a slightly lower bar than we have now (possibly much lower, pre-judges panel.) In any case, if you link to the mixes you think are "too conservative" I'd be happy to explain why they're still there or why they were passed.

No prob, bro. Your track this month is good! Edit: Semifinals began, and just about everything made it.. except my "Art of Zen" Weird, considering it was #1 for basically the entire month, then shot down to #20 during the QFs.